APW WORKERS who lost tens of thousands of pounds when the Hampshire company's pension fund collapsed have backed calls for a windfall tax on banks to compensate them.

Transport and General Workers' Union boss Tony Woodley, pictured, has called on Chancellor Gordon Brown to take a slice of the huge profits generated by companies and pass the money to people who have lost their pensions.

About 1,200 APW workers face financial heartache after the Chandler's Ford electronics company's pensions collapsed because of a £55m black hole. Fund members lost 80 per cent of their pensions.

Speaking on a visit to Southampton, Mr Woodley contrasted their plight with the profits of companies like BP, which yesterday unveiled record profits of £8.7 billion, and banks which make as much as £50,000 a minute.

"Corporate greed is rampant in this country. I don't see any directors' pensions in difficulty," he said.

"They have got to have a windfall tax on oil companies and the banks who make thousands of pounds a minute in profits but call in their debts and create many of the problems we've got. They have got to take some responsibility.

"I don't know if it will happen. But two years ago they said the pension protection fund would never happen - and look at what's happening now. If the Chancellor did this, it would be so popular they wouldn't have to count out the votes, they'd have to weigh them out."

He added that he would raise the plight of the APW pension fund members at a Labour party conference he was due to speak at.

APW worker Russell Piper, 38, has had his forecast retirement income of £20,000 slashed to just £4,000.

"I think this is a brilliant idea," he said. "If the Chancellor actually took the bull by the horns and did this, it would be brilliant. This is our only hope now."

His colleague Mark Coward, 41, who lost ten years' retirement savings, said: "I can't see any other way we will ever see any of our money. We have gone down every other avenue. It is not just for us. It is for other people in the same situation, where there's no safety net."